My 12 year old son's youth hockey coach wants to pick 3 players as team captains. Can this be a mistake?

Question

The team is for 11 and 12 year olds. There seems to be no clear cut leaders.

I am an assistant coach on the team.

Answer 1

if you are saying he is arbitrarily picking the number 3 I agree you cant just say there are x number of leaders. However every team has a person or persons that are leaders. If there isnt then you he should use that and say there is no one that has shown leadership and there will be no captains until someone steps up. This will happen because if you have no leaders you will not win. There has to be somebody that takes charge when things are not going as expected to refocus the team. It may be in the locker room or on the ice/field but there is always someone that has that extra emotion and leadership. Thats who he should pick. If there are other kids that want to be captains but are not picked they need to pick up their leadership abilities emotions or just overall enthusiams to be a better leader. Kids need to learn that you dont always get what you want and you have to work hard to get it. Sports are a precursor to the realities of life and if you cant learn to handle adversity how do you live in this tough world.

Answer 2

Hmmm.

Well, it does depend on specifics.

Normally the coach would either (1) pick the person who already is looked at as a leader by his peers or (2) pick the one with the most potential and whom he wants to "draw out."

Since you said there are no clear-cut leaders, the coach would be resorting to the second option.

I agree there is an inherent problem, usually, in having multiple leaders if they are going to be on the field simultaneously or have to interact.

The whole point of having a leader is so that someone is in charge, the whole team can move in a productive direction, and the players know who to look to for the "final word."

When you have more than one leader in play, the problem gets worse, not better, because the leaders will be in conflict to each other and now the kids don't know where to look for direction.

(Ever heard of the military putting two equal-level sargeants in the same squad? Nope. One guy is in charge, and there's a ranking order afterwards, so that it's always clear who is in command and so that rapid decisions can be made.... just like during a hockey game.)

The problem is only remedied if the captains are not in the rink simultaneously.

The other reason a coach might pick more than one leader is simply because of emotional morale. He might sense that being given the responsibility of leading will help a kid mature. If he thinks the official title might be encouraging and catalystic to a few different kids, and also knows that based on personality, they probably won't butt heads in the rink, he might go ahead and assign the "honorary title" of team captain to more than one kid.

But I would tread carefully, as someone else said. You have to find the line between helping and hindering the coach. Based on his level of training, he might or might not know what he's doing. I would focus on asking questions about his reasoning, rather than directly challenging him, just so you can first get a feel for why he's doing what he's doing.

Answer 3

This decision encourages team work and discourages the idea of superiority among the boys. At ages 11 and 12, leadership is a big responsibility. Granted, there are people who are born leaders and can handle leading a team towards a goal whether in sports, education, or business. But this decision may also decrease the need for excessive competitiveness among the boys. Team sports are competitive not only against opposing teams but against each other. Or maybe the coach sees three exceptional athletes all worthy of being team captain, but doesn't want to discourage them if they aren't all picked. There are worse things than not being team captain. At 11 and 12 years old a sport shouldn't be about whose best and who is better than who on the team. It's about learning how to be a team. Don't worry about it.

Answer 4

I think no. The idea of definite leaders supports superiority. Sharing the responsibility could help with teamwork. And not placing all the focus of the team on one individual. With a team the only one who every one should look too would be the coach.

Answer 5

Ok, advice: STAY OUT OF IT. You are a parent, he is a coach. Don't be one of those annoying parents who yell at the sidelines and take pre-teen sports too seriously. They are 11 and 12, let them have FUN. Sheesh.

Answer 6

it seems to be unfairer. if there is more then two then what about the others.
they will all want to be team captains.who does he chose and how?

Answer 7

Too many chiefs and not enough little indians..always invites trouble.